Ninth Step Murders: Book 1

Malka Older is a writer, aid worker, and sociologist. She is the Executive Director of Global Voices, a community of writers, editors, and translators providing community journalism from all over the world and advocating for indigenous and minority languages, media literacy, digital rights, and online freedom of expression. Her science-fiction political thriller Infomocracy was named among the best books of 2016 by Kirkus, the Washington Post, and Book Riot; with sequels, it was a finalist for a Hugo award. The Mimicking of Known Successes, a murder mystery set on Jupiter, was on four best of 2023 lists and was a finalist for the Nebula, Hugo, Locus, and Ignyte awards for Best Novella. The sequel, The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles, was named one of the best science-fiction books of 2024 by Esquire, and the third book in the series, The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses, comes out in June 2025. She is a Faculty Associate at Arizona State University, where she teaches on predictive fictions. She is co-editor of We Will Rise Again, an anthology of speculative fiction about social justice movements, coming out in December 2025.

Fran Wilde’s books include her Nebula and Compton Crook award–winning debut Updraft and the Nebula award–winning, Best of NPR selection Riverland. Her fiction has appeared in numerous publications and “best of” anthologies. She teaches at colleges and MFA programs nationwide; edits fiction for the Sunday Morning Transport; writes nonfiction for publications including the Washington Post, the New York Times, and NPR.org; and hoards both fountain pens and ink. You can find her at Franwilde.net.